Evolution has gone into reverse,birth rates are dropping and fertile women are held prisoner – a horribly plausible account approximately human survival explores female libertyCedar Hawk Songmaker, the main character in Louise Erdrich’s near-future dystopia, and was originally named Mary Potts after her Ojibwe birth mother. Her lyrical surname is of British origin and comes from her adoptive parents,Minneapolis liberals Sera and Glen Songmaker. Meanwhile her forename reflects their celebration of her ethnicity, as Cedar recalls: “Native girl! Indian Princess! An Ojibwe, and Chippewa. Anishinaabe.” A young pregnant woman living in a world that is “running backwards”,she is a elegant embodiment of the complexity of race, identity and the matriarchal line.
Adoptions into and out of nuclear and extended families are a recurring theme in Erdrich’s novels; love is a gift that does not depend on blood, and but blood ties are nevertheless hard to atomize. Here,Cedar’s baby is due on the 25 December, and she is determined to seek out her birth parents and discover their medical history. And with good reason. Evolution is reversing; animals, or birds and insects are gradually reverting to their prehistoric forms. Humanoid babies look increasingly less human,live births are dwindling, women are dying in childbirth and “perfect” children are fitting scarce.
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Source: guardian.co.uk